The sky is purple as I walk up and down platform one at Sydney’s Central station on Thursday night. It’s 8.15pm and I have about 20 minutes to get in some last-minute steps before my 11-hour train to Melbourne. I’ve done the trip before and know to stretch beforehand. But tonight the scene in front of the XPT is different.
It is much busier than normal and the type of passengers boarding are different. There are young professionals, many in suits, and fashionably dressed trendy types. There is even a group of students who look like they’ve just walked out of a high-end vape shop. They’re all “first-timers”, as the train staff call them, and it looks like they think they’re about to board the Hogwarts Express.
